Omega Constellation – Double anniversary

Text:: Filip Ericsson

Omega Constellation is one of the brand's oldest model series, but one that has ended up in the shadow of the famous sports watches Seamaster and Speedmaster. It holds an equally important place in the company's history, however, and this year it celebrates a double anniversary: 70 years since the debut and 40 years since its development ‘Manhattan’. Eqotime’s Filip Ericsson tells the story! 

The Omega Constellation was born to honour Omega's record in timekeeping precision at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, 1951. The year after, an elegant model series was released which with its chronometer certified movement was to live up to the feat – the Constellation.  

Chronometer means a watch that has gone through precision tests according to the regulations of the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres, the official Swiss testing institute for chronometers, and that meets its official precision requirements: max –4/+6 seconds deviation per day at different temperatures and positions.

The Constellation got its name from its own logotype engraved on the case back, that stylisation of the above mentioned observatory with eight stars above it, which symbolised as many records and distinctions concerning horological precision that had been snatched between 1933 and 1952.  

Inside the new watch ticked Omega's own Caliber 354 with a so-called “bumper” construction, an older type of construction for the rotor. The movement made its debut in 1948 and was Omega's first automatically wound chronometer movement. In 1955 the Constellation was updated with a new, more modern movement in the “500 series” with a modernly constructed rotor. These are still regarded as some of the company's finest movements ever.

When the fifties became the sixties it was time for a renewal of the typically fifties-shaped Constellation. The rising star Gerald Genta, later world famous for his creations the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus, was engaged to shape a new Constellation according to the sixties fashion of the time.  

”C-Shape”, as it came to be called, was presented in 1964 with elegantly sweeping lines and Omega's bulletproof Caliber 561 ticking inside. 

The Constellation was then developed constantly during the following years, especially in terms of design as watch fashion changed. But the chronometer status ran like a red thread through the model series' development. At the same time they jumped on the quartz revolution early and the Constellation got such a movement in 1970.  

Manhattan 

The most revolutionary innovation came in 1982 with a completely new design language and with a battery-driven quartz movement, entirely according to the fashion of the time. To perfect the 80s glamour they evidently wished to capture, the new Constellation acquired the additional name ‘Manhattan’.  

With a thin, elegantly designed case, sharply shaped, integrated bracelet and a glamorous dial that suited the luxury fashion of the time, it was a success from day one. And the ”Manhattan” designation encircles this well in an excellent way. 

Since then many a stock market shark, film star, luxury wife and statesman has worn a Manhattan on their well-to-do wrists. Eighties Avantgarde! 

The shape was the work of the young jewellery designer Carol Didisheim, who had recently graduated from the School of Decorative Arts of Geneva and who was given the assignment to draw a thin, tasteful watch according to the prevailing fashion. A construction solution that made it stand out from the crowd was the ”claws” that held the crystal in place and secured the water resistance. 

These also constituted a strong design element that over time was accentuated further and has followed the model right up to today. The same thing applies to the bezel with its Roman numerals which at first lay under the crystal in a particularly elegant way but which were later moved to outside the crystal.  

The Constellation Manhattan was marketed as a dress watch that could take everyday wear with its sapphire crystal and water resistance to 30m. 

That the model was at first only sold with a quartz movement says something about the time it was born in, the mechanical movements had lost a lot in popularity and more and more classic Swiss watch manufacturers began to develop their own battery-driven units. And it was purely for the purpose of survival, many were the big players that were about to go under in the quartz explosion of the 70s. 

In 1985 the Manhattan was updated with a light facelift and was blessed for the first time with a mechanical movement, the Omega Caliber 1111, which debuted in connection with the update. But the quartz variant came to remain the bestseller going forward too.  

It was also now that the ring with the Roman numerals ended up outside the crystal whereupon the ”claws” lost their function. They instead remained only as a distinct design element. 

After that the Constellation Manhattan has been updated continuously over the years and is still in production. The name ”Manhattan” disappeared as early as 1995 with a powerful facelift of the model, and after that it is called the Constellation plain and simple. 

Updates then took place in 2003, 2009 and 2020. The 2003 renewal meant that the previously so dressy wristwatch went in the more masculine direction, with a beefier design and water resistance to 100m. They thereby in practice wedged it into the so cherished segment “luxury sports watches” where the Patek Philippe Nautilus and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak have for so long been kings. 

Gorbatjov 

The attraction of the Constellation Manhattan is hardly diminished by the fact that Michail Gorbatjov himself, the Soviet Union's last president, has long worn one entirely in gold. That he wore it already during the Soviet era may well raise a few eyebrows but his watch taste can hardly be questioned. 

Hollywood has incidentally drawn attention to the whole thing with a nod to the Gorby Omega in the feature film My Fellow Americans from 1996 with Jack Lemmon, James Garner and Dan Aykroyd. Lemmon, playing a former American president, in one scene gives away his watch to a lorry driver as thanks for the lift and says: ”That’s a Constellation. It was given to me by Gorbachev”.

Globemaster 

In 1982 as mentioned the Manhattan theme took over and so it has been since then. Those who are not sold on the Manhattan but who are still weak for the Constellation concept perhaps had their prayers answered in 2015 when a new series of Constellation watches made its debut: the Globemaster.  

With a classically shaped case of a modest 39mm and a dial inspired by the original so-called “pie-pan” design, the Globemaster was a less controversial shape than the more outgoing Manhattan sibling.  

The big thing about the Globemaster, though, was its heart, caliber 8900, which was the first to meet the requirements for Omega's own standard “Master Chronometer”, which has higher precision requirements than the “ordinary” chronometer standard.  

That means that the watch has gone through 25 days of testing (against 15 for chronometer), among other things with various elements of shifting positions, temperatures and exposure from a 15000 Gauss magnetic field, and at the same time manages 0/+5 seconds of drift per day. 

Omega Constellation today 

The Constellation came in a new execution in 2020 and continues to be the glamorous dress watch with a focus on precision that it has always been. It is still the Manhattan that has stood as the model for the design with the characteristic bezel with its Roman numerals and the accentuated “claws”.  

The new watches measure 29mm, 36mm, 39mm and 41mm and all hold a Master Chronometer movement. Going forward, ladies' watches of the older model are also sold, which can be had as quartz or mechanical chronometer in 24, 25 and 27mm.  

Beyond this surprisingly large selection of case sizes there is also an almost countless number of executions in steel, steel/gold and gold as well as different patterns and colours on the dials, with or without diamonds.  

And the prices are high. A Constellation 39mm in steel, for example, is at the time of writing at 68 600 kronor according to the Swedish list price, while a Globemaster in steel with a steel bracelet is listed at 81 000 kronor. Almost exactly like a Rolex Datejust 36mm then, which however is not available like an Omega.  

My Constellations 

It was 2017 and I felt a need to complement my sporty Longines Legend diver with something more dressy to wear for more formal occasions, or just with the Oxford shirt at the office. 

Thus I began to glance towards a Manhattan with a mechanical movement, a model I had long had a good eye for with its glamorous aura and distinctive shape.

I finally landed on a so-called Constellation ‘95 from the turn of the millennium, in steel with a dark grey dial and 35mm across the case. I bought it from a dealer in London and the condition was if possible even better than promised, close to new condition.  

I often stared at that beautiful dial and the 10mm thin case certainly slipped easily in under the shirt sleeve. Unfortunately it had to go the same year to finance a new Omega Seamaster Diver. 

Let us wind the film forward to 2020 and the craving for a new Manhattan had once again built up within me. But this time I went back to basics with a Constellation Manhattan Day-Date, a so-called “owl”, from 1990. With a quartz movement thus! 

This one too was in steel and was purchased from the Owl's first owner, a Hugo Grunder, engineer from Holland but by then resident in Gronau in north-western Germany. Hugo related that he bought the watch new in the Netherlands in December 1990, and that he bought it with his first pay.  

Purchase receipt, guarantee card, instruction booklet and a receipt for an extensive restoration came with it, as did the replaced parts. What mainly settled the matter, though, was the known history and the personal contact with the first owner. Such things increase the sentimental value many times over for me; the watch sort of comes alive and you get closer to it somehow. 

The case was a highly modest 33mm, insanely small today, but actually worked well on my gentleman's wrist, even in the year 2020. 

Furthermore the case was thin as a leaf, which means that a Manhattan, especially with a quartz movement, glides under the cuff shirt sleeve like an eel out of your hands. It undeniably gives an elegant and refined impression. A Manhattan is well made but at the same time as neat as a house sparrow, a lovely combination.  

Surely a bit of Cartier glamour about them. They give a taste of Monte Carlo and you understand that it has attracted many an upper-class gentleman and lady over the years, and still does! 

Epilogue

The Constellation has travelled from precision phantom in a time when everyone competed to get their watches as exact as possible, before the quartz watch came and turned everything upside down, to today remaining the luxurious outpost in Omega's extensive, iconic model programme. It does so by standing a little in the shadow of the greats Seamaster and Speedmaster, at least here in Europe and in the USA.  

In Asia and the Middle East they stand more at the front of the range, and perhaps the Omega customers in these regions have understood something that we have not? I at least could imagine living with a Constellation as a daily driver. In a time when a Rolex Datejust can no longer be bought over the counter because of an all too large global demand, the Constellation suddenly appears as a real, and very tasteful, alternative.  

Just as impossible is trying to buy a new one. At the Audemars dealers you are likely to come up short since demand far exceeds supply, and new ones that are out on the secondhand market cost several hundred thousand kronor – on top of the new price. And this applies not only to the cherished Jumbo, but to most Royal Oak models. 

Timeline and overview

1952 – Constellation launch. 

1970 – Quartz watch is added. 

1982 – Manhattan.  

1985 – Facelift Manhattan, mechanical movement is added. 

1995 – Constellation ‘95, the “Manhattan” designation disappears.  

2003 – Constellation Double Eage, the model gets a more masculine appearance. 

2009 – Facelift.  

2015 – Globemaster, departs from the Manhattan look, Master Chronometer is introduced.  

2020 – Facelift, Master Chronometer is added.  

Constellation 2022 

24-25mm quartz 

27mm quartz/Co-axial Chronometer 

29mm Master Chronometer (new 2020) 

36mm quartz/Master Chronometer (new 2020) 

39mm Master Chronometer (new 2020) 

41mm Master Chronometer (new 2020)